CHICAGO.- Classical masterpieces and contemporary painting converge in David Schutter’s March UBS 12 x 12 New Artists/New Work exhibition. Schutter’s translations of the provenance, the sagas, and the memories of seven seventeenthcentury Dutch paintings are on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA), Chicago, opening at First Fridays on March 3 and running through April 1, 2007.

Schutter recently completed a stay in Berlin, Germany, where he studied the Gemäldegalerie museum’s collection, which has a particularly tumultuous history. During World War II, the collection was divided and stored in salt mines and bunkers to protect it from the bombing campaigns that ensued. Over 400 works were destroyed by fire during the Soviet occupation of the city and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower seized some of collection that survived the war. The construction of the Berlin wall further divided and dislocated the collection until 1998 when the new Gemäldegalerie was built and became the complete collection’s home.

From this collection, Schutter selected seven works by old masters, including Vermeer, Rubens, and Rembrandt, on which to focus his intense study. After making countless detailed sketches, Schutter recreated the works with only his mind’s eye as a guide. Schutter’s paintings encompass both the color palettes and the episodic histories of the original works; therefore, the works are not literal representations, but accumulations of where time and place meet, where origin and memory collide.

Schutter received his MFA from the University of Chicago in 2003. A gallery guide, created by Schutter, accompanies the exhibition and includes pictures of the original works that inspired his paintings. He leads a guided gallery tour of his exhibition on Tuesday, March 13, at 6:30 p.m.

March’s envy theme for First Fridays is the third of the seven deadly sins themes for First Fridays. The MCA invites guests to listen to the sounds of DJ Matt Roan, enjoy the Lara Miller fashion show and dine on Wolfgang Puck hors d’oeuvres. The after party takes place at Ohm, located at 1954 W. North Ave.

Tickets for First Fridays include museum admission and complimentary Puck’s hors d’oeuvres, and are available the evening of the event for $15 ($7 for MCA members). Advance tickets are $10 ($7 MCA members) available through the MCA Box Office at 312.397.4010 or www.ticketweb.com. Doors are open from 610 pm. A cash bar is open until 9:30 pm. Guests must be 21 or older to enter.